In India, healthcare is still a seller’s market

Devi Prasad Shetty, chairman, Narayana Hrudayalaya Ltd, has reasons to smile. His healthcare company, established 15 years ago in 2000, has built a network of 23 hospitals (Narayana Health), eight heart centres and 24 primary care facilities across 31 cities, towns and villages in Karnataka and eastern India, besides having an emerging presence in central and western India. A world-renowned cardiologist and humanist, Shetty is of the view that while the Indian government is spending 1.1% of gross domestic product (GDP) on healthcare, there is still a need to build massive infrastructure for the healthcare needs of 1.25 billion people. As his company heads to the primary market to give an exit to the existing shareholders, he talks to Ashish K Tiwari about the overall healthcare scenario in India, key concerns, and how his company is working towards providing affordable healthcare to the common man.